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Friday, 31 October 2014

PLOT TO CASTRATE RAPISTS IN TAITA TAVETA COUNTY

State prosecutor Dama Karani has termed sexual exploitation of minors in Taita Taveta as shocking.
“We receive at least 10 cases of defilement per week, while many
others go unreported,” said Karani. The prosecutor cited a recent case
in which a man pleaded guilty for defiling seven primary school boys in
Mwatate and was jailed for 15 years.
“We are challenging parents to immediately report such cases to law enforcement officers,” said the state officer.
Addressing parents, pupils and leaders at Ghazi trading centre in
Voi, Karani also warned parents who fail to take their children to
school that they will be arrested and prosecuted.
“We are coming for you if you fail to take your children to school.
We will charge you according to the Children’s Act,” the prosecutor
warned.
Criticising parents for failing in their parental duties, Voi MP
Jones Mlolwa said four secondary school girls from David Kayanda
Secondary School dropped out of school in third term because of
pregnancy.
He also noted that 11 pregnant girls from Mshimba Secondary School had also dropped out in the same period.
“We need to protect young girls from sexual exploitation. County
administration, civil society and the media should join hands in the war
against sexual exploitation of minors,” said the MP.
Earlier in the week, Taita-Taveta Women Rep Joyce Wanjala Lay caused a
storm when she revealed that women MPs are pushing for a review of the
Sexual Offenses and Children’s Act to make it more punitive to offenders
of sexual abuse.
“We want to propose deterrent sentences against those sexually
exploiting minors and castration is one of the measures we think will
help deter rampant child abuse cases,” she said.
They spoke following revelations by an NGO that 3,000 primary and
secondary school students have dropped out of school in Taita-Taveta.
Action Aid officials Juma Nzao and Rosemary Migiro, who conducted a
study on dropout rates and absenteeism, attributed it to poverty, early
marriages, pregnancy, child labour and prostitution.
They also blamed defilement, sodomy, breakdown in marriages, child
neglect; gender-based violence, lack of school fee and imposed levies by
school management committees. Police and education officials have
launched a major crackdown on parents who have neglected their children.